Chaos, gunbattles, hungry kids in C. African Republic

Congolese peacekeepers monitor a United Nations cargo plane carrying food and medical supplies. Sectarian violence in the past week has killed more than 500 people in the Central African Republic.

Congolese peacekeepers monitor a United Nations cargo plane...

BANGUI, Central African Republic — French troops backed by a helicopter traded fire with suspected rebels in a tense neighborhood of the capital Friday as France's military chief arrived to see how his troops are doing in their efforts to stabilize this lawless country.

The violence that has left the former French colony verging on anarchy showed few signs of abating Friday in Bangui's Miskine neighborhood, where about a dozen Muslim men with machetes faced off against a group of Christian youths.

Anger boiled over in the neighborhood after the overnight death of a Christian taxi driver at the hands of the mostly Muslim former rebels. It was unclear if there were casualties in the neighborhood Friday.

Violence outside the capital included a massacre Thursday of 27 Muslims in the village of Bohong in the western part of the country, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

In a statement, Ravina Shamdasani said the situation is also tense in the towns of Bouca, Bossangoa and Bozoum.

The impoverished country has descended into chaos since March, when rebel groups overthrew the Christian-led government. Some 1,600 French forces are trying to disarm Bangui but face a backlash from residents too terrified to give up the weapons they fear they need to defend themselves.

“They are looting our shops and homes. We have the right to intervene and protect ourselves,” said Hassan Annour, a 36-year-old Muslim wielding a machete.

People on both sides have carried out retaliatory violence across Central African Republic, an overwhelmingly Christian country that until March had seen little sectarian strife.

More than 500 people have been killed in the past week, and the U.N. has warned that toll is expected to rise as teams venture out further into hard-hit neighborhoods.

Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye issued a new warning about the rising violence, urging a rapid disarming of all sides.

“Religious communities that have always lived together in perfect harmony are now massacring each other. The situation must be stopped as soon as possible,” Tiangaye said.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived Friday to meet with troops and commanders who are bolstering regional African peacekeepers in the country, the French military said.

In Bangui, Le Drian met with French troops, where he told them they must “wipe out the spiral of atrocities and sectarian violence that is under way.”

“One of your first tasks is to disarm the militias, while ensuring that civilian populations, Muslims as well as Christians, do not become targets of blind reprisals,” he said, according to remarks carried on French television.

Even as the French worked to secure the city of 700,000, the U.N. said more than 160,000 people had fled their homes in Bangui alone. At least 38,000 of them are living around the airport guarded by French troops, afraid of returning to homes where former Muslim rebels have attacked civilians each night.

In a radio message to the people of Central African Republic, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the international body is committed to helping the country.

“I appeal to everyone to follow the path of peace,” he said. “The bloodshed must stop.”